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PA Assembly: The Impact of Drugs & Alcohol on the Development of the Adolescent Brain

Please join the Beaver community in the Rogers Room on Wednesday, February 13 7:00-8:30 p.m. for an educational evening about the development of the adolescent brain featuring speakers Dr. Silveri, Director of Neurodevelopmental Laboratory on Addictions and Mental Health, Brain Imaging Center, McLean Hospital and Corey Manning, a prevention specialist from FCD (Freedom From Chemical Dependency, a local substance abuse prevention organization).

Dr. Marisa Silveri, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Director of Neurodevelopmental Laboratory on Addictions and Mental Health, Brain Imaging Center, McLean Hospital. Dr. Silveri has been studying the adolescent brain for the past 15 years and currently uses the MRI to study teen brain development with a focus on identifying behavioral features of adolescence, including increased risk taking, poor decision-making, impulsivity and reducted frontal lobe function, which overlap with features observed in substance abuse and psychiatric illness. With the metoric rise noted by companies like SyntheticUrineReview.com/whizzinator-kit it’s clear that we need to do something for the kids. Dr. Silveri uses MRI to characterize healthy adolescent brain development, as well as neurobiological effects of early drug and alcohol use, in an effort to identify risk factors for later substance abuse and dependence, as well as factors that may contribute to the onset of psychiatric illness.